Masked Mage

Belgar

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The Masked Mage ("Kamen no Doushi" in the original, meaning Masked Officiating Monk) is one of the three main villains from Seiken Densetsu 3, along with the Dragon Emperor and the Dark Prince. He serves as the main villain and final boss in Carlie and Kevin's storylines. He has the same goal as the other two main villains: steal the power of the Sword of Mana, release the eight God-Beasts, and take their powers as well to become a god. He also appeared in Heroes of Mana as a playable character.

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The Masked Mage was once a human named Belgar, a priest of light in the Holy City Wendel whose skills in healing were said to be unmatched. Unfortunately, he eventually found a young girl afflicted with a disease that was beyond even his powers to cure. In his desperation, Belgar turned to the dark arts, but the girl died before he could find a cure. Despite that, he continued searching and found a spell that could reanimate the dead. During this time, the people began to fear Belgar, and he was banished by the Priest of Light, though the precise events at the time are somewhat unclear. Most people believe that he challenged the Priest of Light and lost. His son Heath, however, says he was banished out of fear that the city would be cursed. During his time in exile, Belgar was corrupted by the dark magic he pursued and became the Masked Mage, now possessed of a strong hatred for the living and obsessed with his plots of revenge upon the world.

The Masked Mage came up with a plan to become a god by destroying the eight Mana Stones and entering the Mana Holyland. He and his minions, led by the Deathjester, forged an alliance with the Beastmen, who launched an invasion of Wendel. During this time, the Deathjester abducted Heath and brought him back to his father, who corrupted him into becoming his most powerful servant. After the invasion was foiled by the Priest of Light's protective barrier, Deathjester (along with the servants of the Dragon Emperor and the Dark Prince) worked to release the energy of the Mana Stones so a portal to the Mana Holyland could be opened. Meanwhile, the heroes were also trying to open a portal to the Mana Holyland with the help of the eight Mana Spirits so they could reach the Sword of Mana before the rest. Just as the heroes attempted to open a portal, the villains succeeded in releasing the energy from all of the Mana Stones; the extra energy caused the portal to the to float up into the sky, leaving the heroes stranded helplessly on the ground.

Meanwhile, the forces of all three main villains entered the Mana Holyland (the Masked Mage's forces used the Beastmen's giant birds to reach the portal) and engaged in battle for control of the Sword of Mana. What happens next depends on who is the main character:

If Duran or Angela is the main character, the Masked Mage is killed by the Dragon Emperor.

If Carlie or Kevin is the main character, the Masked Mage succeeds in killing the Dragon Emperor and destroying the remains of the Dark Prince. Afterwards, Heath and the Deathjester wait until the heroes have obtained the Sword of Mana (something they could not achieve) before kidnapping the Faerie and forcing the heroes to exchange the Sword of Mana for her. They then use the sword to release the God-Beasts from the Mana Stones, after which they take the sword to the Masked Mage.

Although the heroes are able to kill all of the God-Beasts, they quickly realize killing them sent their power to the Sword of Mana, increasing the Masked Mage's power as a result. They realize their only hope is to face the Masked Mage himself in his stronghold, the Mirage Palace; on their way there through the Jungle of Illusion, they defeat the Deathjester. After making their way through the perils of the Mirage Palace, the heroes finally reach the Masked Mage, who compliments them for being powerful enough to defeat the God-Beasts and then absorbs the Sword of Mana along with their power. He is unable to completely control his newfound power due to the Goddess of Mana's attempts to hinder him, so the Masked Mage leaves to destroy the Tree of Mana and the Goddess with it. He leaves Heath to kill the heroes, but Heath is defeated; though he comes to his senses, he soon realizes what he has done and kills himself.

The heroes make one last journey through the now-withered Mana Holyland, but the Masked Mage succeeds in destroying the Tree of Mana just as the heroes reach him. He offers the Faerie a chance to serve him as her new god, but she predictably declines and attacks him only to swatted away like an insect. The Masked Mage laments of everything hates him, before stating he wore his mask with the intent of eventually taking it off to exact his revenge on the world. He then removes his mask and reveals his true form, the Dark Lich. He quickly overwhelms the heroes, but they are soon healed by the Faerie, who tells the Dark Lich that even without Mana, as long as the heroes have hope, they will create a new world. The Dark Lich is unconcerned by this and mocks the heroes for believing they could stop him. After a long and hard battle, the heroes succeed in defeating the Dark Lich, much to his shock.

The Masked Mage is only fought during the game as the Dark Lich. Being a final boss, he's extremely powerful, possessing a variety of elemental attacks and a number of non-elemental attacks. He also wields some of the desperation attacks used by the God-Beasts as he had previously absorbed their powers. His own desperation technique is a powerful magic attack called Death Ecstasy. He's viewed by most fans to be the easiest of the final bosses in Seiken Densetsu 3 because most of his attacks are just aimed at dealing damage, as opposed to the Dragon Emperor and the Archdemon, who have special attacks that lower the heroes' stats in addition to doing damage. Also, he's an undead enemy, making him susceptible to Carlie's Turn Undead spell.

Belgar is a playable character and joins the party at Wendel initially only to lead them to the Shimmering Ruins, where the Mana Stone of Light is said to rest. However, he joins permanently soon after. As his backstory in SD3 suggests he is very benevolent and altruistic, but has a serious personality. His title "Oracle of Shadows" indicates that he has already begun researching the dark arts at this point of time; he is, however, still perfectly sane and benevolent. This is in line with his backstory in SD3, as he was said to have become insane some time after he was banished from Wendel.

Although the Masked Mage has the same amount of screen time as the Dragon Emperor and the Dark Prince, he isn't mentioned as much. Even in Kevin and Carlie's storyline, the heroes only become aware of who he his when they meet him in person. In the other storylines, his only mention is when the Deathjester says he was killed.